“We know of no other museum collection larger, more impressive, better documented, or more comprehensively representative of every major indigenous basket-making group in North America,” said Mike Jacobs, ASM’s curator of archaeological collections. “Rare and outstanding...

The Southwest Native Nations Advisory Board was initially organized to inform the development of the museum's Paths of Life exhibition, one of the first in the country to involve American Indian consultants. Since the 1980s, with representation from every federally recognized tribe in Arizona, ASM’s Southwest Native Nations Advisory Board provides the museum with guidance and feedback on repatriation, other issues of cultural sensitivity, and program development.

From Peach Springs, Arizona, on the Hualapai Indian Reservation, Dawley has experience in many areas of ASM's mission, having done archaeological field and lab work, collections management, and conservation.